An adrenergic system in PVAT

Using HPLC, we have discovered time and again that the PVATs around rodent and human blood vessels contains significant amounts of amines, especially norepinephrine (NE), the neurotransmitter of the sympathetic nervous system. Importantly, these catecholamines are vasoactive, meaning that if we stimulate their release, they cause vascular contraction! As such, the fat living right outside the vessel is poised to change how the vessel functions, and this is relevant to CV disease. Our goal is to determine whether a true adrenergic system (synthesis, storage, release and uptake) of NE exists in PVAT, and how this changes in obesity associated hypertension.